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Airmen return to Peterson Air Force Base after 4-month deployment

Sisters Haley, left, and Kursten Anthony watch the skies over Peterson Air Force base for the plane carrying their father home from a four-month deployment in Southwest Asia. About 150 Airmen from the Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd Airlift Wing and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing returned to Peterson Air Force Base Wednesday, September 18, 2013. Michael Ciaglo, The Gazette

"This is long overdue," the airman said as his wife, the twins, and sons Tucker and Zach huddled near him.

Anthony was among 150 active-duty and Reserve airmen who returned to Peterson Air Force Base on Wednesday after a four-month deployment to southwest Asia.

While deployed, the airmen, from the Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd Airlift Wing, flew C-130s on hundreds of missions, transporting cargo, troops and wounded warriors.

Since 2010, the active-duty airmen of the 302nd have deployed dozens of times on such missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The unit's Reserve airmen have deployed three times since Sept. 11, 2001.

For many returning Reserve airmen, the deployment was a first.

The military had taken Reserve Senior Airman Mike Boucher away from his wife, Melinda, and 11-year-old son, Anthony, for long periods of time before.

But never into a combat zone - until May.

During combat deployments, "you're always aware that something could happen," said Boucher, who reunited with his wife, son, mother and sister Wednesday on the flight line.

After Boucher deployed, things didn't go so smoothly at home, he said.

The water heater exploded. The family's home flooded. The car had issues.

"My wife has weathered the storm," he said. "It was frustrating because I wasn't there to help her with those things."

But those misfortunes seemed like small potatoes Wednesday. Boucher's grandfather, a Vietnam veteran battling cancer, recently was hospitalized.

On Wednesday, he was in critical condition.

Boucher had asked his wife to bring a flag his unit had flown over Afghanistan and a deployment coin with her so the newly reunited family could head straight from the flight line to the hospital.

"I'm told he's able to understand but can't open his eyes," Boucher said.

He moved a fist over his mouth, and his voice broke.

"I'm hoping he's not holding out just until we get there," he said. "I hope to get more time with him."